Canadian Xbox News app actually a Halo: Reach ARG

Remember the bizarrely out of place Xbox News app on the Canadian Xbox dashboard? It turns out that it was bizarrely out of place for a reason: it's actually part of a Halo: Reachalternate reality game. During the second episode of the program, a news ticker at the bottom of the screen clearly shows information related to Halo. According to Shacknews, the information was apparently meant to alert Canadian gamers to the existence of upcoming Halo: Reach preview events in the Toronto and Vancouver areas.

Somewhat more interesting, however, is that the Xbox News program was intended to run for several more episodes before the Halo connection was revealed. A source informed Shacknews that the marketing team behind the ARG skipped ahead to the first Halo-related episode, thanks to the generally negative reaction to the premiere episode. Marketing lesson of the day: make ARGs about something relevant to your audience. Like bees.